Dutch arrest 6 Greenpeace activists on Russian oil-drilling rig

Dutch police arrested six Greenpeace activists on Tuesday after they prevented a Russian oil-drilling platform from leaving for the Arctic by chaining it to a dock in a Netherlands port.

"Police have arrested six of our activists. They are still in custody, but we don't know what the charges are," said protest coordinator Faiza Oulahsen.

Police spokesman Koos Venema confirmed the arrests, saying the activists were arrested after refusing a police order to abandon the GSP Saturn platform, anchored in the port of IJmuiden, northwest of Amsterdam.

On Monday night, Greenpeace divers and activists with climbing gear surrounded the massive platform, which was contracted by Russian state oil giant Gazprom to drill for oil in the northern Pechora Sea.

"The divers chained the rig to the quay to prevent it from leaving the harbor," Greenpeace said in a statement.

"The activists wanted to prevent the Saturn ... from going to the Dolginskoye field to drill for oil for Gazprom," it added.

Police intervened and arrested the activists.

"They have been taken into custody and are expected to appear on charges later today of ignoring a police order to leave the rig," police spokesman Venema said.

The Saturn rig is the second to be targeted by Greenpeace's campaign to highlight the dangers of oil drilling in the eco-sensitive North Pole area.

In September, Russian security forces detained 30 Greenpeace activists and seized their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, over a protest at another offshore oil rig owned by Gazprom.

The 30, including four Russians, were detained for about two months, when they were released on bail, and subsequently benefited from a Kremlin-backed amnesty.

Greenpeace is now suing Russia at the European Court of Human Rights for detaining their activists.

In another development, Greenpeace activists climbed aboard an oil-drilling rig in the Norwegian Arctic on Tuesday, trying to stop Statoil's exploration plans in one of the world's northernmost prospects, the group said on Tuesday.

The environmental organization said that plans to drill in the Hoop area of the Barents Sea threaten Bear Island, an uninhabited wildlife sanctuary that is home to rare species and occasionally to polar bears.

Oil companies are drilling farther north in Norway than ever before as the Arctic ice retreats, and recent regulation changes let firms work in areas where winter ice was common just decades ago.

Greenpeace activists climbed the rig, owned by Transocean, in the early morning hours and hung banners such as "No Arctic Oil" and "Stop Statoil's Arctic Race". They said they were prepared to stay on the rig for days.

The move came weeks after Greenpeace tried unsuccessfully in Rotterdam to block the delivery of Russia's first oil from the Prirazlomanaya oil platform in the Arctic Pechora Sea.

AFP - Reuters